The present invention relates to a method for lining a pipe conduit or a channel with a sealing inner lining having a tubing, and a device for accomplishing this method.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,091 is disclosed a method for lining the inner surface of a pipe conduit with a flexible tubular lining material, using liquid resin serving as the adhesive. This method has the following steps:                a) filling a metered amount of the resin into the tubular lining material, evenly distributed over its length,        b) annularly securing one end of the lining material which contains the liquid resin in its interior, to the one end of the pipe conduit,        c) exerting pressure with the aid of a pressure medium on the lining material in such a way that at a turning point, which is formed behind the securing location, the lining material is turned inside-out such that it moves into the pipe conduit and the turning point within the pipe conduit progresses in the direction of movement, the turned lining material being pressed with its resin-coated surface against the inner surface of the pipe conduit, and        d) maintaining the pressure through the medium, until the resin is cured.        
In this known method, the intention is to use as long tubes as possible as lining material, so that as few access points to the interior of the pipe conduit or of the channel have to be created. Thus, it is already possible to introduce tubes which are more than 500 m long into the pipe conduits or channels. However, this is a process lasting several hours, the filling and distribution of the adhesive (approximately 1000 kg with a nominal diameter of DN 300 and a renovation length of 600 m) alone require more than an hour and the average advancing speed of the tubing is roughly 6 m per minute. The adhesive used must be workable until the lining process is concluded, i.e. have a pot life (duration of workability) of several hours.
In the case of cold curing, the curing time is usually at least five times the pot life, such that the pressure medium has to remain longer than a whole day in the tubing until the adhesive has sufficiently cured. Since with renovation of a pipe conduit or a channel taking place in this manner, normal operation has to be interrupted for this period, this can be connected with considerable operating restrictions. Shortening the curing time by heating the pressure medium is expensive and at least in the renovation of steel pipe conduits is problematic in as far as the pipe conduit should not be heated to temperatures in excess of 30° C., since otherwise welding seam breaks can occur due to the heat tensions and outer bituminous anti-corrosion covers can be damaged. In the case of pipe conduits which are of great length and have large diameters, practically insuperable technical problems arise.